Welcome to PNG!

Driving around Cairns and the Tablelands already felt like being on a tropical island so I thought I was prepared to head up Port Moresby (POM). In an attempt to describe it to me, Bryce had told me that POM was just like Honiara but 10x bigger. So I was picturing Honiara and its handful of paved roads with just a few more buildings and people…. Let me tell you – with some small exceptions they are nothing alike. POM is really the big smoke of the South Pacific. I realized as I was waiting to board the plane that I could've just looked it up, but the thought honestly never occurred to me!

There is a stilt village back there...

As we flew from Australia on our tiny DASH-8 we were treated to some lovely views of the reef. It was raining on the approach to Papua New Guinea (PNG) and so all of a sudden the coastline appeared out of nowhere and then with a sharp 90-degree turn (this was pre-missing plane) we flew the rest of the way along the coast and got to see so much – reefs, islands, mountains, farms, stilt villages over water, rubbish heaps, animals, regular villages and then Port Moresby came into view. It is an actual city! There were more than 10 large aeroplanes at the airport already a step up from Honiara where flights are one at a time. 

Moresby in the Morning!

My first impression was that everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The Customs and Immigration officers were all smiles and ready to laugh. When the hotel shuttle wasn’t there to meet me, I was taken under the watch of some of the staff of the other hotels until the shuttle showed up. Bryce had warned me that there would be a large menacing crowd outside and that I shouldn't be alarmed as they were no real threat – just hanging out! So it was nice to be taken care of as I hadn’t wanted to go outside and look around. When I did finally go outside with my escort, there was thankfully no crowd!

My beautiful, tropical welcome flowers!

The most fun conversations I had was when people discovered that it was my first time in PNG. We would have normal introductions and chatter and then they would find out that it was my first time in PNG. Full of disbelief and excitement I got something like this accompanied by vigorous handshaking: "Well, oh my goodness, I can't believe it! It's your first time? Welcome! WELCOME!" This happened a few times at the airport and by the time I got to the hotel, I thought I’d consciously try it out and I wasn’t let down. :)  

Bryce sailing in Fairfax Harbour

Driving from the airport, we ran into traffic jams and construction as we drove through this large city with endless large buildings (including large malls) and crowds of people … all on paved roads with traffic lights! Nothing like Honiara. In general, I found Papua New Guinean society to be very confident and productive. People seemed to be moving with purpose and getting things done.

Sunrise over Moresby

PNG is pretty much synonymous with danger. People ask "What are you going there for? You couldn't pay me!" Well right off the bat I will state that I never once felt endangered. This could be due to the fact that Bryce is super vigilant and careful. The overwhelming presence of guards, gates and wire everywhere you go is a constant reminder that it can be a dangerous place and to stay on guard. Car-jackings do happen. Everyone either knows someone who has had it happen, has witnessed it happening or has had it happen to themselves. I guess it's just accepted as a part of life there and you take proper precautions to ensure that it doesn't happen to you. Avoid known hot spots and times, stay connected and take advantage of protective services where available. The dangerous reality of life in Moresby definitely could be considered a negative but it shouldn't impact your visit unless you let (or heaven forbid something actually does happen). The kindness I experienced and fun that I had far outweighed the negatives. Unfortunately driving or walking around with a camera is considered making yourself a target so even though I was just using my phone all of the photos were taken on a boat, in the marina or at the hotel!

Downtown Moresby from the water

We did a bunch of sailing which was a beautiful way to see POM. We even anchored off an island one day and went swimming. It was really lovely to be out on the water. We spent the better part of one day servicing the jib furler on one of Bryce’s mate’s boats. Conveniently, it was the same type of furler we have and servicing it is on our to-do list... Score! Hopefully it will be a bit easier now with one under our belt. If anyone is planning on or thinking about sailing there, the marina, which is located in downtown Moresby, has great facilities and is right next door to a grocery store. 

Sunset over the Marina

All this talk makes it sound like I was there for ages but unfortunately, I was only there for a few days before I cut myself pretty badly in the kitchen.   I needed to come back to Australia for surgery and I am back together and rehabilitating now.  You may say, "Alissa, how did you manage to cut yourself that badly?" And I will say, "...with a blender." And if you are at all queasy, you would probably want to stop reading. 

I am slightly embarrassed to say as it was really a stupid mistake, one moment of not thinking and not something I normally do so I'm just gonna put it out there in the hopes that it can be a good reminder for everyone who reads this. I had just bought a new immersion blender that I had brought with me to POM. It was really exciting! I was making lunch with it, picked it up to look inside, popped my finger in to get something out and as the angle that I was holding the blender changed, my other hand accidentally turned it on, with my finger still inside the blade cavity. Oops!

Accidents happen and I am now a >>very<< strong advocate for unplugging blenders when not in use. I have already pounced on multiple people who I have seen using their fingers in blenders since I have been back in Australia --> For the record, it has always been unplugged! More details to come...

Jetsetting

I just could not let March slip by without updating you all. The delay has been a combination of busyness, procrastination and the fact that for the last three weeks, I’ve only had the use of one hand which makes typing a bit difficult. 

 More details on that here.  

Brisbane by boat at night!

Hanging by the pool with my madre!

February started with me playing ‘mum’ for 3 weeks for our niece and nephew while their mum was away in Thailand. The day after Mint got home, my mum arrived with my grandma and Aunt. My Nannie turned 80 in January and this was the final big family celebration for her since my Mum and Aunt were unable to get to Australia from the US and UK respectively for her actual birthday. They had been celebrating up in Ayr for the week prior to coming down to Brisbane and had many little celebrations with Nannie’s sister, cousins and other family and friends. We had a big brunch picnic party with lots more family in Brisbane when they got down here. Aside from the party, we had a lovely week shopping, relaxing, eating, drinking and just enjoying being together. It was so much fun to play tourist/tour guide in the city that I have called home for the past five years! My darling sister was greatly missed for all of this fun girly time! (It’s her birthday today! Happy birthday Jodes!) 

The end of a day's shopping!

I am so lucky to have the best family that I love spending time with. 

Can’t. 

Get. 

Enough! 

Ever! 

We spent a couple of days in the sunshine coast hinterland before my Mum and I went down to Adelaide for the weekend to hang out with my dad’s side of the family. We had a lovely weekend in Adelaide: quality downtime with my grandparents, walks around their beautiful neighbourhood, wonderful gatherings of cousins and of course, delicious food and wine. We are so spoiled.

South Australia is so unconventionally gorgeous!

Mum left Adelaide to head back home….tear! and I headed back up to Brisbane where I rendezvoused with my Nannie again. The next morning we took off for Townsville for a couple of days. More family and relaxation! We then headed down to Ayr for a couple of days where we had more amazing times. My Nannie is amazingly independent and uses her ipad like a pro but things like running updates and troubleshooting are a bit beyond her scope. I happily spent many hours updating the various technology that my Nannie and great-aunt have.

>>If anyone has spare time and is looking for a volunteer project – helping older people, who haven’t had the advantage of growing up with technology, learn to use their gadgets and how to maintain them would be a great project.<<

Baron Falls - Before the wet!

From Ayr I hopped on a bus to Cairns for a few days with my friends Mia and Jase. It was so refreshing to get to have some girl time with a friend full of daytrips, night markets, an overnight in Port Douglas and much, much more.

Overlooking Townsville and Magnetic Island from Castle Hill

All this excitement served as a great distraction to save me from sitting at home and pining for Bryce.   

I had so much fun but I was quite ready to head up to PNG.

View leaving town!

Crossing things off the list

While we have the time we are trying desperately to cross some of the big things off of the never ending to-do list. Bryce's brother is a cabinetmaker by trade and we have enlisted him to do some work on the boat for us. Some of the jobs we are trying to get done are:

- Expand our bed. Our bed is currently an awkward double/single and is not long enough for us. In order to fit, Bryce needs to sleep diagonally which leaves me with not much space. Sleep is really important to us so we are going to get some more space and new mattresses. It's going to be amazing.

- Install some more cupboards and add shelves to our large hanging locker. We have three hanging lockers and really don't need them all. The plan is to keep the two smaller ones and reinvent the space in the larger one. 

- Reinforce our table. It's a bit wobbly and as it is now we fear what would happen if someone fell into it. 

- Install some sort of apparatus to keep our floorboards and storage spaces closed in the unlikely event we overturn.

-Reorganize the entire boat. This is actually my job! Since we discovered the location of our autopilot compass under the mast, we need to move all of our tools and metal spares away from there.  Given that we also have the mounted compass in the cockpit to avoid, that really limits our options. 

The organising is my favourite part. I love it! It takes awhile and in the process the boat becomes a disaster as the  contents of one cupboard are cleared out to make way for the contents of another. It took me awhile but I've just realised that the constraints of living on land don't apply on water. The cupboards in the galley are pretty awkward and I've never been happy with storing things in them. Two of them have the slant of hull, one of them has the hoses from the sinks cutting through it and another is so amazingly large but it has the smallest opening so in order to get to something in the back, everything else has to come out. Today I discovered that I don't have to keep the conventional kitchen things in the galley! The awkward hard to reach spaces have now become the super efficiently organised home for all of our small to medium-sized spares. There are LOTS of them on a boat.